![photo[4]](https://i0.wp.com/www.marketmanila.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/photo4.jpg?ssl=1)
A couple of months ago, I got an urgent message from folks at the Philippine Department of Agriculture inquiring about our jams/preserves. One thing led to another, and the DoA ordered 50 bottles of marmalade for a “special event” coming up in Paris, France in early April. The marmalades were to be part of some “goody baskets” featuring Philippine produce to be handed out to guests, VIPs, etc., including the French Prime Minister. I cooked up the batch of 50 bottles of kalamansi marmalade myself, to ensure they were worthy to be “exported” and they just made the shipment deadline by a day or two.
Actually, the discussions started earlier, when Margarita Fores was trying to convince me to join the team that would put together both a cocktail reception and snazzy lunch at the Musee de Quai Branley, after the opening of an exhibit of Philippine art and artifacts. It was a major event, and frankly, I had visions of lechons gone bad, being roasted in a makeshift pit in some nearby park area… :) Actually, I had previous family commitments so I graciously declined the wonderful opportunity. And with Mrs. MM very much at home in Paris, it would have been a terrific trip.
A few weeks later, with just a week or two before Philippine officials boarded their flights for France, another frantic message from the DoA arrived and they needed another 60 bottles of marmalade, as the guest list had expanded and the loot bags needed to be increased. Again, I arranged to cook the marmalade myself, and the second shipment was airfreighted to Paris.
I didn’t think about it much in the days that followed, until friends who were at the event started tweeting and instagram-ing photos from the spectacular spreads that Gaita and other chefs put out at the reception and cocktail! It was a surprise to find out that not only were the marmalades given out in the loot bags, but Gaita used some as well. The photo up top, a triple cream cheese topped with kalamansi marmalade, blackberries and blueberries. And in some other photos, other jams, dried fruits, and other ingredients from the Philippines.
If you are curious about the rather important museum exhibit entitled “Philippines, archipel de échanges“, check out this youtube video on the exhibit, and check out these blog/posts here and here on the actual reception/food…
Note: Top photo courtesy of ACS who was at the reception. Thanks!
36 Responses
Wow, sarap sarap.
Spectacular.
MM, you must get ready to get more requests for airfreighted bottles of your artisanal products. =)
Les félicitations s’imposent. Mais ça ne m’étonne pas.
Just Paris? I am not too far from Paris ;-) Anyway wow.. and I have been telling friends about your kamyas smoothie and they all gave me like ” are you crazy”.
Shalimar, I think the DoA has other similar events in Berlin and Moscow coming up later this year… :)
Footloose, merci. Qu’est-ce que tu penses de l’ensemble de marmalade kalamansi et du fromage? :)
The ensemble is actually very French since what we consider deserts are regarded by them as strictly entre-mets and desert for them invariably consists of fruit and cheese. As for the jar you regaled me with, let’s just say I spread it really thin (literal and figuratively) making it last and last.
Wow, congrats MM. I feel your passion to put up the Philippine flag on the intl culinary stage. I still have some of d calamansi marmalade bought frm previous trip to Cebu. Yes, it’s great with cheese esp sharp ones.
woohoo! that first picture says it all! congratulations, MM!
Congratulations, MM!
YEY! congratulations MM :) ..
Very witty label. With your name on the label, does that mean we may see the marmalade on store shelves one day?
Congratulations MM!
Fantastic idea by DA to showcase Philippine food, produce and ingredients. The papers have been raving about how Margarita and the rest of the Philippine contingent wowed the French with the food they prepared. Glad to know your products were part of this very successful event. Looks like you’ll be making a lot more bottles!
WooootWoooot!!! Oh la la, indeed!!! Those hors d’oeuvres look delightfully delicious…and the kalamasi marmalade looks like liquid jewels….I could ramble on and on but woootttwooot, again!!
Love those pictures on the other blog/post…the presentation!! the imagination and intricacy!! iba na talaga ang profs and experts in the trade..MF is a Cardiothoracic Surgeon in this field…
looks really good. i’m going to add that on my mom’s pasalubong list :)
MM going international….Congratulations!
We will be in Paris next month…I hope to catch this exhibit!
congratulations!
Thanks everyone for the kind comments. Cwid and joanie, we have had the labelled jars of preserves/jams/marmalades in our restaurants for the past year and a half. But we make them in extremely small batches and only when fruit is at its peak, so the bottles are limited. We can’t even make enough for our own stores, so its unlikely we would sell it elsewhere in the near future. For a special request like the DoA, I had to cook the 110 bottles of marmalade in our own home kitchen in Manila to get it done in time! :)
Fetching trailer. The intricately beaded jacket fleetingly shown up close towards the end is simply awe-inspiring. The wooden idol with a woody is sure to provoke giggling among young attendees. The two French ladies sharing responsibility for the exhibit describe it as … poetique et raffiné (poetic and polished)… paired adjectives that can be aptly applied to both of them… un univers totallment inconnue (an entirely unkown world).
I saw a huge advertisement of this exhibit when I was in Paris two weeks ago. Glad to see that Filipino food was made part of the program!
Congratulations MM! Is the kalamansi marmalade the bestseller among your jams/preserves? When I was in Cebu, I was told by one of your servers that balikbayans would usually get one of each.
nessa, yes, kalamansi does well with foreigners or balikbayans. But locals tend to buy the mango jam and guava jelly when in stock. I think people have some difficulty getting over the bitterness factor of marmalade… but with my older palate, I find the kalamansi the most appealing… It’s a royal pain in the neck to make, hence the limited stocks for the most part. :)
wOw MM! so proud for you! I hope you get to export your Jams soon so we can taste it up here in England :)
whoa! any feather added to you cap, MM!
@Footloose: a woody, ey…??? let me look closely at the trailer…didn’t get as far as that…time constraints…aka J.O.B.
The beaded black kimona got my attention instead…vanity and shallowness…
Inspired by the photo of the cheese & marmalade, I’m thinking the kalamansi jam would be a great topping for a pavlova.
Congratulations, MM! I read about that highly successful event – even provided a link to the article in my FB page. Just so glad that Filipino cuisine is gaining world attention. Here in Toronto, Filipino food is finally getting the buzz it deserves.
Congratulations, MM! The whole exhibit looks so well put together. And I kept my eyes peeled for Footloose’s woody :-) Agree that bitter marmalade is best. Bought a kilo of kalamansi once to try to replicate your recipe, but discouraged since it’s so labor intensive so I made juice instead haha.
Congratulations again, MM! this is another reason for me to head to Cebu now! yum!
Well Done MM! Congratulations!
I will be in Manila next month. is there any chance of purchasing some to bring back
with me to San Francisco?
Hi Mark, unfortunately, we only have them for sale in our Cebu stores, and supplies are limited…
Beautiful spread. You must be so proud MM :)
i’m wondering if your calamansi marmalade recipe can be used to make biasong marmalade,too? the biasong doesn’t have much juice as calamansi, and its rind is thicker also… i experimented by adding biasong zest to leche flan and kahit konting konti lang, it added a citrusy flavor … your recipe gave me an idea to try out biasong marmalade… maybe, in this way, we can extract more of the biasong flavor as it does not give us much juice as calamansi does… any suggestions po? btw, congrats MM !
joji, it’s worth a try, though my gut feel suggests that the rind of biasong might be TOO BITTER. My sister has tried to make makrut lime marmalade with mixed results. The rind of biasong is perfect for leche flan, I have a recipe in the archives I think. It is also good for flavoring pastillas de leche. I also use biasong in kinilaw. If I could get a steady supply of semi-juicy biasong I could use all of it for the restaurant, but the supply is so erratic and quality unreliable…
this was delicious and a definite highlight at the event. We were eating it by the spoon!
Can you please email me regarding this Artisanal Kalamansi Jam? I want to include this in my in my products.